Britain’s first hand transplant a success

A week ago, Mark Cahill couldn’t tie his shoelaces or cut his own dinner due to a paralysed right hand.

But Mr Cahill can grab life with both mitts once more after having Britain’s first hand transplant.

A few days after the groundbreaking operation, the father of one is already moving his new fingers.

‘It feels great to look at this hand I haven’t seen move for five years and see it move,’ he said.

Mark Cahill can move his hand again (Picture: Ross Parry)

The 51-year-old from Halifax, West Yorkshire, gave up work as a pub landlord after gout caused an infection in his hand five years ago, leaving it paralysed.

But on Boxing Day, just three months after his name went on a transplant list, he was ‘gobsmacked’ to be told a donor hand had been found.

The next day he endured eight hours of surgery in which the bone in his arm was attached to the new hand with titanium plates. A dozen tendons, eight blood vessels and three large nerves also had to be painstakingly connected.

A new lease of life: Mark Cahill and his wife Sylvia (Picture: Ross Parry)

Prof Simon Kay, who carried out the surgery in Leeds, said the transplant was less invasive than an artificial hand because it involved cutting less tissue.

‘The operation was also complex because it involved removing Mark’s hand and attaching the donor’s hand in the same operation,’ he added. ‘I don’t think that has been done before.’

The procedure was first carried out in Lyon, France, in 1997, and Prof Kay’s team are now keen to become a leading centre for the procedure in Britain.

He added: ‘And of course we should thank the donor – you can’t imagine anything more tragic than a family member dying unexpectedly at Christmas.’